When officials at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder asked students why they rejected the school after having been accepted, the No. 1 response was “the facilities,” Dean Dennis Ahlburg said.

The 100,000-square-foot building offered a breathtaking view of the Flatirons, but it had not been updated since it opened in 1970. It lagged behind a business-school culture that puts a premium on technology – such as wireless classrooms – and student interaction, said Ahlburg.

“The building was a competitive disadvantage for us,” he said recently. “In the business school, students demand a higher level of technology, and if you don’t provide it, they’ll go somewhere else.”

This fall, the school opened to roughly 3,200 students with a $38 million renovation to its existing building and a 65,000-square-foot addition.

The new Koelbel Building features 25 team rooms with whiteboards where students collaborate on projects or prepare for presentations. There are two classrooms wired for distance learning and an “information commons” – a media center that also houses a cafe.

Throughout the building are e-mail kiosks and inviting sofas. There are a new dining area where meals can be catered and community rooms for outside groups to use.

“We changed the emphasis from the traditional ‘Come to class, sit there, listen, go away’ … to ‘This is where you’re learning,”‘ said Ahlburg.

Business schools are providing more amenities as they compete to attract students.

But facilities are not all that matter to business students, said Gregg Schoenfeld, a manager of applied research for McLean, Va.-based Graduate Management Admission Council.

In an October 2006 GMAC survey, students rated facilities 25th out of 46 categories.

“No. 1 was quality of the faculty and then job placement,” said Schoenfeld.

School reputation and the quality of current students also ranked high.

“They’re looking at who’s going to teach them … and what are they going to do with the degree afterwards,” he said.

Aaron Templer, spokesman for the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business – one of Leeds’ fiercest competitors – agrees.

He said the college opened its $24 million facility to students in 1999. It offers 14 wireless meeting rooms, theater- style classrooms and a commons with sofas and televisions. It even has a dressing room with lockers for students who need to do a quick change for an interview.

But Templer said the program offered by Daniels is the biggest draw for students.

Still, Jamin Kimmell, a 21-year-old junior marketing major at Leeds, said the building has made a marked difference.

“You would walk in the old building … and you didn’t get the feeling that everyone here is pursuing new opportunities or are doing new things,” he said.

Changes include a business career center for student counseling and marketing-research labs.

Ithaca College School of Business in New York will open a $19 million, 38,500-square-foot building next spring, said Dean Susan Engelkemeyer.

“Facilities are an extremely high correlator for satisfaction for business students,” she said. “All of our top competitors have facilities that were superior to ours.”

The new building features a 2,000-square-foot atrium with a cafe and team rooms. It also has tiered classrooms and a 44-person trading room where students have real-time data to simulate trades, she said.

At Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the $139.9 million Huntsman Hall opened in August 2002 with 324,000 square feet of space.

Deirdre Woods, associate dean at Wharton in Philadelphia, said computers and couches encourage collaboration and teamwork.

Ahlburg said business schools recognize that “a lot of our learning comes from talking to your peers.”

“You’ve got to have places where students can sit and toss around ideas,” said Ahlburg. “If you don’t do that, you reduce the chances of your next Google or the next Microsoft.”

What’s in a name

Leeds School of Business: Named for Michael Leeds, who gave a $35 million endowment to the University of Colorado College of Business in 2001. The school said it would focus on teaching social responsibility and diversity, which Leeds said were significant during his tenure as chief executive of CMP Media.

Koelbel Building: Named for Walter and Gene Koelbel and their family. Walter Koelbel founded Koelbel & Co. in 1952. The family gave $4 million for the new building, more than any other donor.

Inside the Koelbel Building

Construction began in spring 2006. Faculty and staff moved in Aug. 6; students began classes in the facility Aug. 27.

The finished building is 165,000 square feet, including 100,000 square feet of renovated space and a 65,000-square-foot, four-story expansion.

The facility has 16 classrooms, three research labs, two seminar rooms, six discussion areas, 25 team rooms and an information commons with a library/media center, a lounge and the “Trep Cafe.”

There are nine conference rooms for students, faculty and staff, as well as for the outside business community.

The cost of the renovation and expansion will be about $38 million. Of that, $17.5 million will come from student fees, $17.5 million from private donations and $3.25 million from the university.

A formal dedication of the building will be Oct. 19 at 3 p.m. Guests include Gov. Bill Ritter, the Koelbel family and University of Colorado President Hank Brown.

Source: Leeds School of Business

This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to a reporting error Leeds School of Business Dean Dennis Ahlburg’s name was misspelled.

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